No preload on 5th coil

We had 1 of those races this past weekend that you would like to forget about. We started out the night pretty good. The track was pretty tacky and was fast. 5 laps into the heat race the car got so loose on entry he nearly spun. After the heat we went over everything we could think. It was bad enough that we thought it was a brake trying to seize or maybe a bearing in the rearend. We could find anything wrong. We did go on and change the r/r shock just because we already had it off. We made our usual adjustments to tighten up for the feature and went with it. About 5 laps into the feature it started it again. Car so loose on entry it looked like a street stock out there going so slow. We haven't been this bad at a race in a VERY long time. We have more laps at this race track than any other track we run at. We have won several features there so we feel like we know how to at least be in the ball park on setup. We have went over the car today and the only thing we could find wrong was the preload on the 5th coil. To make sure that the nut doesn't back off once we preload it, we have a hose clamp on it. It was close to 2 rounds "off" the spring when we checked it, (The hose clamp was still tight too). We have a spare ohlins and another spring we put on it for this weekend. I don't think the shock is bad but I know its possible since the car seemed to go away after we ran a few laps. I do feel like the spring has seen its better days and is causing most of the problem. I think it has gotten soft and is not working to its full potential. (Unless ya'll think the crewchief is to problem for not catching it before we left the shop. LOL)
With all of my rambling done I guess my question is: Since there was no preload at all on the 5th coil spring, is this what made the car so loose on entry that we couldn't get out of our "own" way?

thanks,
Alan
slmcrewchief99

What about the sixth coil and chain? shouldn't lose your preload if the sixth coil is set right wether the shock is bad or not, assuming that the adjusting nut is in its usual place . If the shock is broken somehow and you lost all rebound in it then I could see it causing a loose entry by allowing it to "bang" on the sixth coil instead of transition smoothly .

We had the hose clamps slide down several times. We would put them in place and then put racres tape around them to rey to keep them in place. We ended up putting second nuts on and then taping them for rough tracks.

I'd be looking at the 6th coil to see if something isn't broken up there. We have had the springs rip partially through the aluminum cases a few times and it'll do exactly what you are saying. Check to make sure you don't have any links grossly stretched as well.

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Originally Posted by talclipse

I'd be looking at the 6th coil to see if something isn't broken up there. We have had the springs rip partially through the aluminum cases a few times and it'll do exactly what you are saying. Check to make sure you don't have any links grossly stretched as well.

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I am thinking the same thing.

I agree with the previous posts about something in your 6th coil or 5th coil shock (for which rebound is dampening the 6th coil). Could be taking it a few laps to build up a little heat and then the problem is kicking in. The 5th coil shock takes a lot more abuse than most people think.
Depending on why type of 6th coil assembly you have, make sure nothing is in a bind but I would think that is something that would be real intermittent and would happen right from the get go. The fact that it takes a few laps is leaning me toward the shock.

Thanks for the help guys. I will tell ya'll we did snug up quit a bit and I do see where that would have only made the problem worse. We were up 1 hole on l/u, 2 down on l/l, 4 rounds forward on rear steer, and down on j-bar on pinion side. Plus adding a few rounds of bite and a little bit of tilt. We were also on 3 1300's and a 1350 on the r/r. The track had slowed down but as you can see with the tire selection it still had some brown left.
We changed the shock and spring before I made the post. The shock isn't bent but it just don't feel right to me. It is an afco that Stuckey gave us. I guess I should have said upfront that we run a 2011 GenX by Stuckey. (And yes, we have called him 9000 times in the last 4 days. He is at Moring's shop and was with them and Oneal over the weekend.) It's still nice to hear from some of ya'll just to know we are still on the same wave link.
We scaled the car at the shop before we left for the races. It was the last thing we did to the car before we loaded it in the trailer. So yes, it was the crewchiefs fault it wasn't checked. We will get it down on the ground and reset everything on the car. We will go thru all the front end and rearend parts just to make sure nothing is bent. I'll let ya'll know if I find anything else.